THE PEA FOWL. 
275 
these feathered gems, in association with the many-. 
colored Iris, to the train of imperial Juno. Even 
the peahen, though sober in her coloring, is most 
harmoniously shaded, and every movement is co¬ 
incident with the line of beauty. 
There are two varieties of the common pea fowl, 
namely, the pied and the white. The first has ir¬ 
regular patches of white about it, like the pied 
Guinea fowl, the remainder of the plumage resem¬ 
bling the original sort. The white have the ocel- 
laled spots on the tail faintly visible. These last 
are tender, and are much prized by those who pre¬ 
fer variety to real beauty. They are occasionally 
produced by birds of the common kind, in cases 
where no intercourse with other white birds can 
have taken place. 
The natural disposition of the peacock is selfish 
and gluttonous, and it is only by pampering this 
weakness that he can be persuaded into obedience 
and attachment. He is vain, and at the same time 
ungallant. He is far from manifesting the polite¬ 
ness and attention which the common cock shows 
towards his mates. The peacock will greedily 
snatch from the mouth of his hens those titbits and 
delicate morsels which the cock would either share 
with his favorites, or yield to them entirely. The 
peahen, in return, cares less for her lord and master, 
and is more independent of him, when once her 
amorous inclinations have been indulged. She then 
regards the display of his tail, his puffings and strut- 
tings, and all the rattling of his quills, with the 
coolest indifference. Nor does he seem to care 
much about her admiration, or to make all this ex¬ 
hibition of his attractions to secure her notice, but 
is content, if he can get some astonished hen, or 
silly, bewildered duck, up a corner, to wonder what 
all this fuss is about. Like other vain coxcombs, 
he expects the lady to make the first advances. 
Although occasionally cruel, the peacock is shy of 
fighting, particularly when in full plumage ; nor do 
these birds so frequently engage with each other as 
with those of a different species, such as drakes, 
cocks, &c. One, out of feather, was seen to keep up a 
three hours 1 struggle with a musk drake ; had it 
been in fullplumage, it would not have shown fight 
at all. 
In general, the peahen makes her nest on the 
bare ground, amongst nettles, or rank weeds ; some¬ 
times she chooses the shelter of a young fir tree. 
The egg very much resembles that of the ostrich in 
miniature, being smooth but indented all over with 
little dimples, as if pricked with a large pin. It 
is somewhat bigger than a turkey’s egg, bulging 
considerably at the larger end, of a dull yellowish 
white, and occasionally, but not always, spotted, or 
rather freckled, with a few small reddish-brown 
marks. The newly-hatched chicks are streaked on the 
head and neck, with alternate stripes of dingy yel¬ 
low and pale brown ; the legs are of a dusky-yel¬ 
lowish tinge. 
The probable term of life of the peafowl is 18 
or 20 years; and the young poults may be eaten at 
nine months old. The female does not lay till her 
third summer; but she then seems to have an in¬ 
stinctive fear of her mate, manifested by the secrecy 
with which she selects the place for her nest; nor, 
if the eggs are disturbed, will she go there again. 
She lays from four or five to seven. If these are 
taken, she will frequently lay a second time, in the 
course of the summer, and the plan is to be recom¬ 
mended to those who are anxious to increase their 
stock. She sits from 27 to 29 days. A common 
hen will hatch and rear the young ; but the same 
objection lies against her performing that office, ex¬ 
cept in very fine long summers, for the pea fowl, as 
for turkeys ; namely, that the poults require to be 
brooded longer than the hen is able conveniently to 
do. A turkey will prove a much better foster 
mother in every respect. The peahen should of 
course be permitted to take charge of one set of 
eggs. Even without such assistance she will be 
tolerably successful. 
The chicks are engaging little things, most ele¬ 
gant in appearance, very tame, and confident. They 
may be made to sit upon the hand to peck flies from 
the window. The same wise provision of nature, 
already noticed in the Guinea fowl, at page 158, of 
the present volume, is evinced by them in a still 
greater degree. Their native jungle, in India, tall, 
dense, sometimes impervious, swarming with rep¬ 
tiles, quadrupeds, and even insect enemies, would be 
a most dangerous habitation for a little tender thing, 
that can but run and merely squat. Accordingly 
they escape from the egg with their quill feathers 
very highly developed. In three days, they will fly 
up and perch upon anything a yard in height; in a 
fortnight, they will roost on trees, or the tops of 
sheds; and in a month or six weeks, you would 
see them on the ridge of the barn, if there were any 
intermediate low stables, or other building, that 
would help them to mount from one to the other. 
Old birds, received from a distance, are difficult 
to settle in a new home. Housing they do not 
like, and will scarcely bear. Most liberal feeding 
is the best bond of attachment, but even with that 
they will unexpectedly be off, and will perhaps be 
stopped on the high road, like other suspicious va¬ 
grants. It is recommended to procure a sitting of 
eggs, place them under a hen turkey, and have the 
pleasure of watching their whole progress, literally 
ab ovo. Those who are impatient to have a full- 
grown stock, should still select birds not more than 
three years old. 
The causes which disincline many persons from 
indulging themselves with the daily spectacle of 
this inapproachable model of beauty, are, in the fiisvt 
place, the depredations that it commits upon gar¬ 
dens. For this there is no help. The dislike 
which these birds have to enter a fowl house, and 
their decided determination to roost on trees, or 
lofty buildings, prevents our exercising a control 
which should restrain them from mischief till an 
eye can be kept upon their movements. At the 
first dawn, or at the most unsuspected moments, 
they will steal off to the work of plunder. A 
mansion, therefore, the fruit and vegetable garden 
of which is at a distance, is almost the only place 
where they can be kept without daily vexation. 
The injury they do to flowers is comparatively 
trifling; though, like the Guinea fowl, they are 
great eaters of buds, cutting them out from the axils 
of the leaves as cleanly as a surgeon’s dissecting knife 
would do. They must also have a dusting hole, 
which is large and unsightly ; but this can be pro¬ 
vided for them in some out-of-the-way nook ; and 
by feeding and encouragement, they will soon be 
